Scottish Executive

Cancer

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-9625 by Susan Deacon on 15 November 2000, what criteria are used by specialists to determine whether or not, in their clinical judgement, a patient should receive Transtuzmab (Herceptin) for the treatment of metastatic cancer and whether such criteria are standardised and practised across all health boards.

Susan Deacon: It is not possible to define precisely the criteria used by specialists in deciding whether an individual patient should receive Transtuzmab (Herceptin). The ultimate judgement regarding the use of a particular treatment will be made by the specialist in discussion with the patient, or the patient’s carer, taking into account evidence from various sources such as the product literature provided by the manufacturer, information from clinical studies, publications such as professionals journals and advice from bodies like Area Drugs and Therapeutics Committees and the Health Technology Board for Scotland.

Consultancy Costs

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-6883 and S1W-6884 by Angus MacKay on 1 December 2000, whether it can obtain the information regarding the number of contracts it or the Scottish Office had with external consultants from 1995 to 1999 and, if so, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre details of the nature of work or services provided in each case, and the amount paid.

Angus MacKay: The information requested could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Crime Prevention

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7487 by Colin Boyd on 24 November 2000, how it assesses success or failure of CCTV schemes if figures on the number of convictions secured as a result of CCTV evidence are unavailable.

Iain Gray: The role of CCTV in providing evidence in support of criminal proceedings is not the sole nor indeed the main criterion by which the contribution which CCTV can make to increasing public safety can be measured. Evaluations of particular schemes generally show a reduction in crime in the areas covered following the introduction of CCTV. The demand for new CCTV schemes is also an indication of the contribution which local communities consider it makes to improving safety. The CCTV Challenge Competition for funding for 2001-02 is the sixth such annual competition and the number of applications made in support of new schemes remains in line with the average number received in previous years.

Dental Care

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will investigate the level of provision of hospital dental services in the Grampian health board area and what plans it has to reduce waiting times for such services.

Susan Deacon: The provision of hospital dental services in the Grampian Health Board area is primarily a matter for Grampian Health Board and the Grampian NHS Trusts.

  At a national level, the Executive is increasing investment in the NHS and is improving workforce planning. The reduction of waiting times is a priority for the NHS across Scotland.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make the appointment of a school librarian a statutory requirement for all secondary schools.

Mr Jack McConnell: The provision of a variety of support services to learning and teaching in our schools is quite properly a matter for local authorities as the managers of education. Consequently, we have no plans to make the appointment of a school librarian a statutory requirement for all secondary schools. A specific amendment on such a requirement was rejected by the Scottish Parliament during the passage of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools Bill.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will include the school library as a specified item in reports by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools.

Mr Jack McConnell: Since the beginning of this school session (2000-01), HMI inspection guidelines have specifically covered examination of the school library service and evaluative comments are now made under the Staffing and Resources   sub-section of HMI inspection reports.

Elderly People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have vired monies from this year’s budget for older people and home care in order to meet other demands, what the amounts involved were and where the money was re-allocated.

Malcolm Chisholm: The vast majority of Scottish Executive grant support to local government for expenditure on services, including home care and other social work provision for older people, is not ring-fenced or hypothecated. It is for each local authority to establish its priorities and set its budget consistent with meeting its statutory requirements and Scottish Executive policy. Following from the 2000 Spending Review, substantial additional resources have been provided for the next three years to enhance and improve care services for older people. We are discussing with local authorities what we expect to be achieved from these extra funds and shall issue detailed guidance early this year.

Elderly People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications by elderly people for day care centre places have been refused in the last 12 months, broken down by local authority.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost will be to local authorities which own and manage crematoria of complying with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions’ Air Quality Division’s guidance notes requiring crematoria to undergo major industrial changes involving flue gas cleaning equipment should these changes be deemed necessary to reduce background emissions of mercury.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Process Guidance Note PG5/2, which relates to emissions from crematoria, is currently subject to review. Accordingly, no final decision has been taken on whether or not to require the fitting of flue gas cleaning equipment to existing crematoria for the purpose of reducing mercury emissions. Discussions on how to proceed are still taking place with the relevant stakeholders, and the cost implications for crematoria will be taken into account before any decision is taken.

Ferry Services

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to take forward the future delivery of ferry services in the Highlands and Islands to bring these into compliance with European Community Law.

Sarah Boyack: In April 2000, I announced publication of the consultation document Delivering Lifeline Ferry Services which sought views on options for putting our subsidised lifeline services out to tender in order that they can continue under European Community rules.

  We received a response of over 100 replies. I have considered all of the points made carefully, taking account of the relevant EC Regulations and Guidelines on State Aid. I am announcing today a package of provisional proposals which have been submitted to the European Commission and which I believe will provide a robust framework for the continued delivery of high quality lifeline ferry services to the Highlands and Islands. The key elements are briefly summarised as follows:

  - I regard all Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services which serve islands as being consistent with public service obligations (PSOs) and plan to tender these services in line with the requirements for these as set out in the European Community cabotage regulations and guidelines;

  - I have made robust representations to the Commission in relation to Caledonian MacBrayne’s mainland-to-mainland routes, Gourock-Dunoon and Tarbert-Portavadie. I am pleased that the Commission has indicated it might be prepared to consider such services where land-based transport would not provide a viable alternative. I regard Caledonian MacBrayne’s present mainland-to-mainland routes as being consistent with this criterion. I therefore propose PSOs in respect of these routes also. In the case of Gourock-Dunoon, the PSO would be in respect of a passenger-only service because of its integration with other modes of transport (as indeed is the approved service at present);

  - On the packages of routes to be tendered, the Executive’s strong preference, based on the results of consultation, is to tender the network as a whole. Overwhelming support was expressed for this option in response to consultation and we believe this would maximise service reliability for the communities served, simplify the process for management of vessels and provide economies of scale in company management, safety and quality systems. It also avoids cherry picking of routes and facilitates integrated transport through co-ordinated timetabling of services;

  - On arrangements for future ownership of vessels, I propose to establish a publicly-owned vessel owning company in line with proposals set out in Delivering Lifeline Ferry Services. I believe this strikes the right balance between the need to ensure the efficient utilisation of the unique existing fleet and service reliability through this period of great change. Vessels would be leased to operators on a commercial basis and without subsidy in line with European Community rules that prohibit grants in respect of vessel replacement;

  - I propose operators would be bound to the vessel owning company’s existing vessels. However, I propose to allow scope for operators to bring their own vessel solutions where we have identified a need for new vessels to replace older ships or expand the range of services during a five-year contract period. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis at the outset of each PSO contract period. In line with the Commission’s guidance, the vessel owning company’s functions would focus on bare boat leasing to operators as well as ownership and maintenance of CalMac’s piers and harbours. I am considering the possibility of the vessel owning company offering, on an optional basis, a management of maintenance package which might be attractive to some operators. We also propose the vessel owning company should act as an operator of last resort which would provide an important safeguard through this period of change;

  - Delivering Lifeline Ferry Services made clear that the Executive would allow Caledonian MacBrayne to bid to operate the routes on a basis which ensured that the bid was prepared on a fair and full cost basis and evaluated transparently and equally with bids from other potential operators. We will honour this commitment. It will be for the company to decide how best to proceed and I will ask it to draw up proposals setting out details of its plans and to put these to me;

  - the consultation paper invited views on the possible need for a new legislative framework. There was little comment on this aspect and I intend to consider this in the longer term drawing on the lessons learned through the first contract period and taking account of the possible future role of a Highlands and Islands Integrated Transport Authority;

  - I wish to promote good consultative arrangements within the new framework. The Highlands and Islands Integrated Transport Forum was invited in autumn 1998 to review the way in which passenger ferry companies consult the public and local communities over services and timetables. I propose to invite the forum to expand their review to look at the arrangements needed under the new framework;

  - I gave a commitment when I announced Delivering Lifeline Ferry Services that levels of service and fares would be protected. We will be developing a detailed specification of services and will be consulting on this in due course;

  - Caledonian MacBrayne currently operates several services which are outwith the Undertaking of approved services. I plan to take the opportunity presented by the tendering exercise to consider whether any of these Out of Undertaking Services should be brought within the Undertaking and hence safeguarded and made eligible for subsidy. I will also be considering whether any new routes ought to be added. We will require to take into account the affordability of proposals and we will consult on the service specification in due course when we have taken decisions on these matters;

  We are required under the European Community’s rules to consult the Commission on the proposals and therefore they are provisional at this stage and subject to the Commission’s approval and further investigation. The Executive is committed to maintaining these vital lifeline links to Scotland’s islands and rural communities. If approved by the Commission, these measures would ensure that we will be able to continue to subsidise them in the future and safeguard the services on which these communities depend.

Fisheries

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to alter the angling season for migratory fish in the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association waters from February to October to March to November in order to reduce the cull of white and immature fish in that river system.

Rhona Brankin: The Executive has no such plans.

Flood Prevention

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11857 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 22 December 2000, which local authorities have brought forward in 2000-01 flood prevention schemes eligible for 50% grant under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961; which of these schemes have met the specified cost-benefit criteria, and what the total cost will be of each approved scheme.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961, flood prevention schemes which are confirmed by Scottish Ministers are eligible for grant. So far in 2000-01, schemes brought forward by Renfrewshire Council, East Dunbartonshire Council and Perth and Kinross Council have been confirmed. There have been five schemes in total, all of which meet the cost-benefit criteria for grant assistance. The estimated total cost of each scheme is set out below.

  


Council 
  

Scheme 
  

Estimated Cost 
  



Renfrewshire Council 
  

Moredun, Paisley FPS 
  

£750,000 
  





Collier Street, Johnstone FPS 
  

£693,000 
  



East Dunbartonshire Council 
  

River Kelvin FPS 
  

£8,500,000 
  



Perth & Kinross Council 
  

Bridge of Earn FPS 
  

£740,000 
  





Weem Village FPS 
  

£362,000

Health

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has on a regular basis with the Chest, Heart and Stroke Association Scotland Ltd., what money will be made available to the NHSiS and voluntary organisations to ensure the fullest support for those with heart and stroke related conditions and how any such funding will be allocated to health board areas.

Susan Deacon: The Executive welcomes requests for meetings from voluntary organisations such as Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland. The most recent such meeting took place shortly before CHSS launched its stroke strategy on 6 December.

  The section 16B scheme of grants exists to assist voluntary organisations whose work complements that of the statutory providers of health care. Under that scheme, the Scottish Executive Health Department funds bodies which operate at national level. In allocating funds through the scheme, the department takes account of the priority areas of the NHS in Scotland, such as coronary heart disease and stroke. Health boards have discretion to provide money through the scheme to assist voluntary bodies which operate in their area.

  Voluntary organisations can also apply for assistance with the provision of social care through the scheme of grants operated under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

  The funding proposals set out in Fair Shares for All mean that there is a formula for distributing funds to health boards which fully recognises factors such as morbidity, including coronary heart disease and stroke.

Housing

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7184 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 June 2000, whether the seminar with all relevant parties in relation to the employment and training opportunities arising from New Housing Partnerships has been held; what outcomes have resulted from the seminar, and what further consultation, guidance or action it has issued, given or taken as a result of the seminar.

Jackie Baillie: The seminar was held in August 2000. Following the seminar, a working group has been established including representatives from the Scottish Executive, Scottish Homes, Scottish Enterprise, the Employment Service, COSLA, the Construction Industry Training Board, the Scottish House Builders Association and Professor Alan MacGregor of Glasgow University. The group’s remit is "to identify the mechanisms required to maximise both employment opportunities and inclusion benefits arising from housing investment". The group intends to report back in early summer this year.

Justice

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many drivers in each of the last three years have been charged with driving under the influence of drugs and how many have been convicted, broken down in each case by police force area.

Mr Jim Wallace: The available information on the number of offences of driving while unfit through drink or drugs which were proceeded against in court is given in the table. Information is not available separately on those driving while unfit through drugs.

  Offences of driving while unfit through drink or drugs proceeded against in Scottish courts, by police force area, 1997-99

  




Offences proceeded against 
  

Offences proved 
  



Police force area 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  



Central 
  

8 
  

11 
  

16 
  

4 
  

8 
  

13 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

5 
  

9 
  

7 
  

4 
  

6 
  

4 
  



Fife 
  

28 
  

30 
  

38 
  

17 
  

24 
  

24 
  



Grampian 
  

84 
  

70 
  

69 
  

54 
  

45 
  

47 
  



Lothian & Borders 
  

57 
  

75 
  

81 
  

48 
  

62 
  

70 
  



Northern 
  

16 
  

13 
  

15 
  

10 
  

7 
  

7 
  



Strathclyde 
  

485 
  

229 
  

257 
  

378 
  

191 
  

197 
  



Tayside 
  

37 
  

71 
  

50 
  

31 
  

61 
  

39 
  



Scotland 
  

720 
  

508 
  

533 
  

546 
  

404 
  

401

Parliamentary Questions

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review its current procedure of providing information requested in parliamentary questions by letter and lodging a copy of the letter in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre where currently the time of lodging the letter is not intimated to members and the response is not in the public domain, in order to ensure that all ministerial responses to questions are accessible and open to both parliamentary and public scrutiny.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive has no plans to review its current procedure of providing information requested in certain parliamentary questions by letter and lodging a copy of the letter in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. However, in consultation with the parliamentary authorities, we will give consideration to whether, and if so how, these responses might be placed in the wider domain.

Parliamentary Questions

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) ministerial and (b) non-ministerial letters providing information requested in parliamentary questions have been lodged in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre since the inception of the Parliament and whether there has been an increase in this practice.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is not held by the Scottish Executive.

Residential Care

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many nursing home and residential care home beds have been closed in each of the past three years.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on bed closures in private nursing homes and residential care homes is not available centrally.

  However, a census of bed complements is carried out as part of an annual return for each private nursing home and registered residential care home. The table shows the number of homes and bed complement.

  The figures for nursing homes are based on information supplied to NHSScotland Information and Statistics Division at the end of each financial year. It is understood from health boards that a small number of other nursing homes registered in Scotland have been unable to provide the information requested. Data for these nursing homes are not included in the table and account for approximately 15 homes at 31 March 1998, 30 homes at 31 March 1999 and 30 homes at 31 March 2000. The bed complements of these homes are not known and may explain the decrease in bed numbers over the three-year period.

  Residential Care Homes1 for Older People and Private Nursing Homes2 in Scotland3

  


Number of Homes 
  

31 March 1998 
  

31 March 1999 
  

31 March 20004




Residential Care Homes 
  

681 
  

659 
  

631 
  



Nursing Homes 
  

517 
  

508 
  

505 
  



Total 
  

1,198 
  

1,167 
  

1,136 
  



Number of Beds 
  









Residential Care Homes 
  

16,677 
  

16,300 
  

15,851 
  



Nursing Homes 
  

23,818 
  

23,480 
  

22,950 
  



Total 
  

40,495 
  

39,780 
  

38,801 
  



  Notes:

  1. Source: SEHD – Social Work Statistics Division (R1 return).

  2. Source: NHSiS ISD(S)34 return.

  3. The figures represent a "snap shot" on 31 March each year and do not necessarily reflect the position between the censuses or at present.

  4. Figures for 31 March 2000 are based on an 84% response rate in a voluntary survey of residential care homes. Statistical imputations have been made for the missing data. These figures may be subject to slight future revisions if more data becomes available.

Roads

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been given to (a) North Ayrshire Council and (b) other local authorities to maintain road networks and from what budget any such money came.

Sarah Boyack: Councils are allocated Grant Aided Expenditure for Roads and Road Lighting which includes road maintenance. It is entirely a matter for each council to determine its current expenditure priorities and from GAE to allocate resources for roads maintenance. Similarly, Scottish Ministers provide local authorities with a single block allocation for capital expenditure on a number of services including roads and transport, but that is the extent of our control. Councils can supplement their allocations from resources raised locally, mainly capital receipts.

  Exceptionally, to alleviate significant public safety concerns about the condition of the roads on Arran, North Ayrshire Council was awarded in August a supplementary capital allocation of £400,000.

Roads

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the outcome of the tendering exercise for the maintenance of trunk roads.

Sarah Boyack: Tenders for the competition for the four units were received by the Scottish Executive on 30 October and have subsequently been assessed. I can today announce the intention to award four new contracts worth £350 million over five years from 1 April 2001. Subject to completion of an urgent independent review of one aspect of the assessment process which has featured prominently in recent proceedings in the Court of Session, i.e. the use of tender assessment quantities, the contracts will be awarded to BEAR Scotland Limited for the North East and North West Units and to AMEY Highways Ltd for the South East and South West Units. The companies involved already have a substantial record of successful provision of trunk road maintenance in England and Scotland.

  The review will be undertaken by Halcrow, in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers. I expect it to take no more than seven days, and I am confident that that it will confirm that the processes followed in assessing quantities were both fair and reasonable. The contracts will be awarded when the review is complete, but the new companies will only take over responsibility on the roads on 1 April. The intervening period will be spent in the essential work of developing plans and systems and procuring the necessary plant, depots and staff required to carry out the work.

  Under the terms of the competition, the new companies are responsible for any obligations for staff which arise under TUPE. We expect TUPE to apply.

  It is customary to publish in the Official Journal of the European Community details of the outcome of public sector competitions. In the case of these competitions each bidder was required to demonstrate that their proposals for the contract would meet a quality benchmark. Each bidder satisfied that requirement and therefore an assessment of the rates and prices quoted was made against a predetermined volume of work and subjected to a number of sensitivity tests to provide an overall comparative cost for each tender. The names of each bidder for each competition are set out below, in alphabetical order, and the overall comparative costs of the tenders received for the five-year core duration of each contract are set out in numerically increasing order. The actual value of the contracts over this period will depend on the volume of work ordered within each unit.

  North West Unit

  Bids were received from the following contractors:

  Accord

  BEAR Scotland Ltd (Babtie Group Ltd, Enstone Thistle Ltd and Ringway Group Ltd)

  Caledonian Roads (Local Authority Consortium)

  Link Roads (Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald)

  The assessed overall comparative costs of tenders were:

  £104,975,174

  £124,136,868

  £168,190,613

  £180,013,104

  North East Unit

  Bids were received from the following tenderers:

  ACTim(Atkins, Carillion and Thorburn Colquhoun)

  BEAR Scotland Ltd

  NE Roads (Colas)

  Neulink (Local Authority Consortium PPP with Mouchel)

  The overall comparative costs of the tenders are:

  £75,822,374

  £91,371,288

  £93,439,545

  £100,095,522

  South East Unit

  Bids were received from the following tenderers:

  ACTim

  AMEY Highways Ltd

  Lowland Roads (Local Authority Consortium)

  Total Road Care (Morrison and Mouchel)

  The overall comparative costs of tender are:

  £56,013,419

  £91,628,894

  £95,167,760

  £96,474,835

  South West Unit

  Bids were received from the following tenderers:

  AMEY Highways Ltd

  Clyde Solway (Local Authority Consortium)

  Link Roads

  Nuttall

  The overall comparative costs of tender are:

  £99,953,997

  £150,137,513

  £164,307,240

  £225,283,948

Scottish Youth Parliament

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Youth Parliament will be invited to be represented on the Ministerial Review Group established to monitor the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Executive is in contact with the Scottish Youth Parliament on a number of issues and recognises its importance as a voice for Scotland’s young people. While the Scottish Youth Parliament is not represented on the Ministerial Review Group, the group does include students from schools and colleges with direct experience of this year’s exam round.

Smoking

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5896 by Susan Deacon on 29 November 2000, how the £2 million of tobacco tax revenue to help more people quit smoking will be allocated to identify and support those on low income who wish to stop.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is committed to improving the health of the people of Scotland and to tackling the inequalities in health between rich and poor.

  Health boards were advised in September 2000 of the additional resources they have been allocated to address these issues from the £26 million additional tobacco tax revenue. Smoking cessation activity is one of the priority areas that health boards are expected to address with these funds. Boards are expected to give a full public account in their annual reports of how the extra money has been invested.

Subordinate Legislation

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to lay before the Parliament the revised Small Claims (Scotland) Amendment Order and the revised Sheriff Court (Scotland) Act 1971 (Private Jurisdiction and Summary Cause) Order and what its timetable is for these Orders from laying to implementation.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive have not yet fixed a date for the laying of these Orders before the Parliament. It would be premature to indicate a timetable for implementation at this stage. The Orders will be re-laid for debate by the Justice and Home Affairs Committee once the review of the Rules is completed. There is likely to be a three month lead-in time for the Orders taking effect. Related work to review the Table of Fees for solicitors in summary cause actions is being taken forward by the Lord President’s Advisory Committee having regard to proposed changes in the Rules.

Tourism

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to help hotels in the Highlands and Islands with any problems caused by increases in non-domestic rates and falling trade.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: The Transitional Relief arrangements, set in place following the 2000 Revaluation of Non-Domestic Rates, give significant protection to those businesses, including hotels, facing an increase. There is also rate relief for smaller businesses. The New Strategy for Scottish Tourism , published last year, contains actions to grow tourism in the Highlands and Islands.

Waste Management

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on any pollution-related illness caused by waste-burning incinerators.

Malcolm Chisholm: A report on Health Effects of Waste Combustion Products , published in 1997 by the Medical Research Council’s Institute for Environment and Health, concluded that "Epidemiological studies of people who work at or live near incinerators have shown no consistent excess incidence of any specific disease.".

  Similarly, a report on Waste Incineration and Public Health, published in 1999 by the US National Research Council, concluded that "Few epidemiological studies have attempted to assess whether adverse health effects have actually occurred near individual incinerators, and most of them have been unable to detect any effects. The studies of which the committee is aware that did report finding health effects had shortcomings and failed to provide convincing evidence.".

  Both reports point out, however, that effects on health cannot be excluded, because (for example) the studies examined small populations, could not adequately make allowance for other factors which might influence disease rates, could not measure exposures accurately and could not allow for the possibility of a long latency between exposure and development of disease.

  A study undertaken by the government-funded Small Area Health Statistics Unit found a small excess of primary liver cancer near the older generation of municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs). The Government’s expert advisory Committee on the Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment has considered these studies and concluded that any potential risk of cancer due to residency near to MSWIs was exceedingly low and probably not measurable by the most modern epidemiological techniques. The committee agreed that, at the present time, there was no need for any further epidemiological investigations of cancer incidence near municipal solid waste incinerators. The committee’s statement can be found on the Internet at www.doh.gov.uk/munipwst.htm.

  The Department of Health in England has recently published guidance, reflecting the advice of the Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, on Investigating the health impact of emissions to air from local industry, which can be found at http://www.doh.gov.uk/comeap/goodpracticeguide.pdf and statements on the applicability of time-series co-efficients to areas affected by emissions of air pollutants from industrial sources, at http://www.doh.gov.uk/comeap/areaemissions.htm.

  The UK Health Departments will continue to take account of any new evidence in this area, in the light of expert advice.

Waste Management

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards completing by the end of 2000 improvements to the standards of urban wastewater treatment systems and the construction of new systems in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as referred to in Making it Work Together .

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Edinburgh works will be completed by the end of 2000, as will three of the four Glasgow works. The other Glasgow works at Dalmuir, where early construction was delayed by serious flooding of the site, will achieve compliance in mid-2001.

Waste Management

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has applied or intends to apply for a four-year extension to the dates by which the targets for the reduction of the amount of waste being landfilled set in the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) require to be met and what justification has been or would be given for any such request.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive intends to take advantage of the provision in the Landfill Directive which allows the UK, as a member state that landfilled more than 80% of their municipal waste in 1995, to postpone the attainment of the landfill reduction target dates by up to four years. There is no need to apply to Europe to make use of the provision, although member states must inform the European Commission of their strategy for implementation of the targets by July 2003.

Waste Management

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the 1995 baseline landfill tonnage figure is for each local authority area and how much waste has been landfilled in each local authority area in each year since 1995.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I plan to publish later this year a consultation paper on the Executive’s proposals for allocating the 1995 baseline municipal waste figures and landfill targets between Scottish local authorities.

  Information on the total amount of all waste landfilled in each local authority area is not held centrally. However, the amounts of local authority waste land filled in 1997 and 1998 can be calculated for most authorities from appendices D and E of the Scottish Waste Statistics 1997-1998, recently published by the Scottish Executive and available in SPICe (Bib. no. 10691). The tonnages are shown in the table.

  


1997 
  

Total Landfilled 1997 
  

Total Landfilled 1998 
  



Local Authority 
  







Angus 
  

46,501 
  

48,610 
  



City of Dundee 
  

92,299 
  

77,422 
  



City of Edinburgh 
  

245,196 
  

252,329 
  



Clackmannan 
  

29,045 
  

28,153 
  



East Lothian 
  

49,075 
  

61,971 
  



Falkirk 
  

85,779 
  

N/A 
  



Fife 
  

N/A 
  

194,675 
  



Midlothian 
  

67,456 
  

62,035 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

66,240 
  

64,893 
  



Stirling 
  

60,490 
  

75,929 
  



Borders 
  

88,539 
  

78,421 
  



West Lothian 
  

78,691 
  

82,294 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

129,921 
  

130,833 
  



City of Aberdeen 
  

109,289 
  

125,873 
  



Highland 
  

N/A 
  

153,594 
  



Moray 
  

46,004 
  

48,018 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

N/A 
  

N/A 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

11,931 
  

12,482 
  



Western Isles 
  

N/A 
  

17,716 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

53,592 
  

N/A 
  



City of Glasgow 
  

305,084 
  

312,478 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

72,661 
  

70,177 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

62,678 
  

60,000 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

56,267 
  

52,570 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

N/A 
  

48,926 
  



Inverclyde 
  

44,357 
  

39,123 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

N/A 
  

88,710 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

167,184 
  

149,015 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

N/A 
  

N/A 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

63,319 
  

63,245 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

229,877 
  

222,040 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

N/A 
  

56,398 
  



  N/A: no data available.

Waste Management

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when area waste plans will be published and what the current state of readiness of each area is to draw down funds from the Strategic Waste Fund.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I expect the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to have prepared all 11 Area Waste Plans for public consultation by October this year, although some may be published before then. The Executive has already announced that £3 million is to be available from the Strategic Waste Fund this year to local authorities to improve recycling and composting. As no Area Waste Plans have been completed, no local authority is currently in a position to apply for grant from the £50.4 million provision which the Executive has allocated over the next three years for implementing the Area Waste Plans.

Water Supply

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-9513 by Sarah Boyack on 21 September 2000, what progress it is making in exploring the options for banning lead solder in domestic plumbing systems.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Executive’s press release SE3051/2000 issued on 27 November set out the actions being taken in response to the results of a survey confirming that lead solder had been used in the domestic plumbing systems in new houses in Scotland. These actions should together help to protect the public from the potential ill effects of excess lead in their domestic plumbing and to eliminate the use of lead solder. We are continuing to explore with the Health and Safety Executive and European Commission whether it would be feasible to extend the ban on lead solder. In the meantime, in December the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employer’s Federation again recommended to its members a voluntary ban on the use of leaded solder.